Corner construction for fire screens



Patented July 6, 1943 CORNER/CONSTRUCTION FOR FIRE SCREENS Joseph H. Babros, Los Angeles, Calif. I Application November 10, 1941, Serial No. 418,580

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a' corner construction for fire screens and the like.

An object of the invention is to provide a neat, simple, but strong and attractive bracket useful in the construction of fire screens at the corners thereof. Heretofore, it has been common practice to construct fire screens by providing rodlike frames in the form of upright and horizontal members welded or otherwise secured at the corners of the frames. The screen has been spotwelded or otherwise secured to the uprights and horizontal members of the frames and the edges of the screens together with the frame members have been enclosed in open-sided tubings usually formed of brass. The conventional construction has been to miter the open-sided tubings at the corners of the screen panels and to solder or braze the mitered ends together. An objection to this form of construction has been that the soldered or brazed, mitered joints are not sufiiciently strong. With usage these mitered joints open or break with the result that each panel is materially weakened at the corner allowing the frames to weave or warp in usage.

Another objection to the soldered or brazed, mitered joints has been that considerable time and labor is consumed in their construction in that the ends of the tubing must be thoroughly cleaned, the joints cut to fit properly, and skilled labor is required to secure a proper joint. By means of the present construction it is unnecessary to accurately cut the ends of the open-sided tubings. No mitered joint whatsoever is necessary and the operation of the soldering or brazing is entirely eliminated.

The present invention contemplates enclosing brackets formed of opposed parts which, when fastened together, enclose the ends of the opensided tubings, rigidly fastening the tubings together at the corners of the panels, and effectively reenforcing the screen at the panel corners. The bracket also provides suitable openings so that the upright members of the screen frame may project therethrough for the purpose of effecting hinge connections between the adjacent sides of adjacent panels.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will be made manifest in the following detailed description and specifically pointed out in the appended claim, reference is had to the accompanying drawing for an illustrative embodiment of the invention, wherein:

Figure 1 is a View in front elevation of the fire screen embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a'perspective view'of a bracket as, sembly; i

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section takensubstantial- 1y upon the line 3-3 upon Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially upon the line 4-4 upon Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a partial view in vertical section taken substantially upon the line 5-5 upon Fig. 4.

Referring to the accompanying drawing wherein similar reference characters designate similar parts throughout, the fire screen in general appearance conforms to the appearance of a conventional fire screen having a main or central panel l0 and side panels I I and I2. Each panel is formed of upright or vertical rods I 3 at the sides and transverse or horizontal rods M at the top and bottom. The wire mesh or screen I5 is spot-welded or otherwise secured to the rods [3 and M of the frames, and in the preferred form of construction, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4, the upper and lower ends of the vertical rods l3 project upwardly and downwardly, respectively, above and below the top and bottom rods 14 such as indicated at It.

Open-sided brass tubings I! having open sides l8 enclose the frame members and the attached edges of the wire mesh around the sides and top and bottom of each panel. These tubings adjacent the corners of the panels are not mitered or jointed in any way as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The tubings may be merely cut ofi to appropriate length.

The brackets that comprise the present invention consist of two opposed parts l9 and 20, each part having two semi-cylindrical recesses 2| and 22 in its opposed face and a quarter circle connecting web 23. The recesses 2| and 22 of the two parts cooperate to enclose the ends of tubings I1 adjacent a corner of the panel. They are apertured as indicated at 24 to receive a short bolt 25 which may be equipped with a nut 26 preferably hemispherical in form. If desired, rivets may be substituted for the bolts and nuts. The bolts extend through meshes of the screen or wire mesh adjacent the corner of each panel and serve to clamp the two parts l9 and 20 of the bracket in clamping relationship. Semi-circular recesses 25 and 26 are formed in the parts which cooperate to form holes permitting the extension I6 on the vertical members to project therethrough. Those uprights that are on the ends of the end panels are usually threaded and equipped with nuts 2'! and 28. The upper nuts form suitable ornaments while the lower nuts 28 provide feet.

The other uprights of the screen panels Where they project through the openings formed by the recesses 25 and 26 extend through apertures in r a hinge plate 29, there being hinge plates at the top and bottom. Tension members 30 also extend through these hinge plates and are equipped with nuts 3|. Thereover there may be a cover plate 32 and an ornamental nut 33. This form of construction hingedly connects the side panels to the central or main panel.

From-the above-described construction it will be appreciated that mitering of the tubings at the corners and the step of brazing or soldering is entirely eliminated. The brackets enclosing the ends of the tubings serve to rigidly hold them in place and form neat and attractive corners for the corners of the screen panels. In the event that the corner construction should loosen with usage this may be easily and quickly taken up by merely tightening the bolts 25.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A fire screen having a frame having upright sides and connecting top and bottom members, the sides projecting above and below the top and bottom respectively, wire mesh secured to the frame, split tubings enclosing the parts of the frame and edges of the wire mesh up to points adjacent the corners of the frame, and corner brackets enclosing the ends of the tubings at the corners of the screen. each corner bracket comprising two opposed complementary parts having recessed opposed faces and a connecting web, each recess accommodating approximately onehalf of the adjacent ends of the tubings that meet at the corners and the outer sides of the recesses meeting to form a closed outer corner, the edges of the outer sides of the recesses being notched so that the opposed notches cooperate to receive the portions of the sides of the frame that project above and below the top and bottom, and means extending through the connecting Webs and through the corners of the wire mesh for fastening the'parts of each bracket together.

JOSEPH H. BABROS. 

